Giza we have a problem.

“Of the four objects found in the QCN shaft (Dolerite pounder, Copper hook, Metal plate and Wood stick), it is plausible that the last three were indeed part of a same tool.” That sounds evident for me. “… that it remain possible that is was rather the handle that was attached to the hook.” That too sounds evident for me. And the answer is just on the back side of the QC shafts doors: a loop for each pin! So 2 loops + a hook + a metal plate + a wooden stick = a handle which has a link with the “door” through the loops. That is quite similar to a pan with a removable handle! Now the question is: “For each shaft, what was the purpose of this tool?” (My) Answer…but let me explain a little more before: I’m an architect; I’m a rational guy, so I think that Egyptians built these monuments for a main reason. For Khufu’s pyramid and all the other, they built funerary tombs. But building a pyramid was more than that; the whole economy depended on their construction and the strength of the central power (the King) was directly linked to the size of the pyramid. The 4th Dynasty pyramids are the biggest ever built and reflect the strength of one family – Snefru, Khufu and Khafre – and the apogee of the “Great Works” of the state. In the following Dynasties, Egypt was never as powerful as she was in the 4th. This said we have to think that these projects were designed by architects, engineers and many other technicians or specialists (no matter how they were called at the time). I want to emphasize the importance of the era between the first pyramid (Saqqarah) and Khufu’s pyramid. In around one century, Egyptians made incredible progresses in know-how, technology, programming, planning in every fields, so they were able to build fast and efficiently, like in our modern world, and even more: in a sustainable development manner. NO WASTE, and built for Eternity. Stone construction, corbelling, Turah limestone, ability to build with the facing already done while the pyramid rises up (thanks to the INSIDE-OUT technique). These are fundamental elements for large smooth pyramids. As skills and knowledge expanded from one pyramid to the next, Egyptians were always willing to go a step farther, keeping what was working well, leaving aside what was not. Moreover, they always set a new “challenge” for any new pyramid. Before any construction, each project was carefully designed. It had to be built exactly as it was planned, including every detail needed for the construction. Often these details, linked to a construction necessity, had a great influence on the design itself. Between Khufu’s pyramid and those before it, the most striking difference is a big change in the positioning of the funeral chamber. In the previous pyramids, the funeral chamber is below ground level, at ground level or just above ground level, this showing an evolution in the design. So the pyramid is built above a chamber already dug or built and the “descending corridor” (leading to the outside) is built, while the pyramid rises, starting from its lower point up to its outlet, reaching the outside at one resulting place. For Khufu, Egyptians tried a big jump: build a funerary chamber, with a flat ceiling, very high in the core of the monument, at level +43m (layer 50). What does that mean? A BIG CHALLENGE ! This funeral chamber would be available only 15, 16 or 17 years after the beginning of the construction; this had never been done before. Something was unknown: how long would the King live? He could die at any moment during these long years (Sekhemket and Khaba died during the early years of the construction of their pyramids) The final design of this pyramid was done from the very beginning and included all the parameters. 15 years after the beginning of the construction, one can’t build a chamber at a precise location if one doesn’t know where to start the construction of the corridor leading to it. The design of every internal work below level +43m was totally dependent from the precise location of the chamber. Moreover, the Grand Gallery and its counterweight system – the tool needed to pull the beams weighing up to 60t around year 14 (at that time the pyramid is at level +43m and 2/3 of its volume is done) – had also a big impact on the design… Consequences: 3 chambers were included in the pyramid. The first chamber, dug in the ground (the subterranean chamber), was planned for the first 10 years, just in case the King dies early. This is an unfinished chamber, but this could have been quickly finished. The second chamber (the so-called Queen’s chamber – QC), built at mid-level between the final chamber and the ground, and was available for years 10 to 15/16 or 17 of the reign. The third chamber (the King’s Chamber – KC), was built as the main purpose of the construction. This chamber being built at a higher level than its corridor entrance, two ventilation shafts were needed to ensure some kind of air circulation in the room before the funerals. This problem doesn’t exist in any other pyramid. As Egyptian liked to build smart, they gave many purposes to the second Chamber, the QC: – A back-up funerary chamber, with the same width as the KC one but twice shorter, holding a sarcophagus (read Edrisi’s History of the Pyramids, written c. 1245 and translated by J.L. Burkhardt reproduced in Richard Howard Vyse, Operations Carried Out on the Pyramids of Gizeh, Vol. II, Appendix, p. 335). – A trial model for the setting in place of rafters for a roof – A trial model for the future shafts of the KC And, I’m very serious saying this : – An amplification room for a phonic intercom system linking the South part and the North part of the pyramid during the construction of the KC. The counterweight system requiring hundreds and hundreds of orders for its use (reloading, traction), a communication system was needed. The walls of this room were polished to enhance the acoustics. That led to set the QC directly on the East/West axis, so the shafts could be built “in a mirror manner” on both side (North and South) from that axis. Doing so, the designers were sure that these shafts would rise at an equal distance from it at each level, while the KC was being built. These shafts were never supposed reaching the outside, but just the level of the last ceiling of the KC. The “doors” were set in place to protect the shafts from dust, rubble, rain and animals while the intercom was not in use. They were put in place at the temporary outlet of the shafts during the construction. They stood at their final point at the end of the KC construction. One can draw a horizontal line at the base of the last ceiling of the relieving chambers; this line will cross the QC shafts at their end. This is not by chance, but by design. The blocks behind these doors are blocks of the backing stone belt, between the facing blocks and the core blocks… You could object that the shafts had no outlet in the QC, Wayman Dixon discovering these shafts in the 19th century. I would reply: look at the walls (North and South) of this chamber. Look how they are built. The blocks of the shafts were “jutting out” in the room (30cm) during the use of the intercom, just like drawers! They were pushed backwards at the end of the use with the help of the counterweight, and thanks to a beam inserted in the niche in the East wall. The unfinished corner of the North block (rough angle) was kept like that to avoid any crack or damage to the block during the push back process. Look at the cracks on the blocks above the holes of the shafts on both sides: a proof of the stress supported by the blocks during the push back process. The sealing of the chamber was never done; the unfinished corner of the North block is a proof. At last, let’s talk about the shafts of the KC. Up to the end of the construction of the KC, (and rafters on top of the structure of relieving chambers), the whole pyramid inside (corridors and chambers) was ventilated naturally because the Grand Gallery was partially unroofed to let the ropes of the counterweight system run freely well above the Grand Gallery roof. But once the KC was completed, the unroofed part of Grand Gallery was then roofed with large beams brought down from above. As a consequence, the KC was no longer ventilated because it is at a very high (level 43m) above the entrance of the descending corridor (level 17m), with a lower point at the junction of the descending and ascending corridors (level 7m). That gives 36m above any fresh air entrance. By setting 2 air shafts, on South and North, mirroring each other, ventilation was smartly provided. As the North face of the pyramid is always cooler than the South face, a natural circulation was blowing from the North shaft (descending air), running through the chamber and exiting by the South shaft (ascending air). Thus, the whole pyramid inside was ventilated. A small Turah limestone block (with a V shape plug the size of the opening having been set in place when the shaft reached the outside) was standing above the outlet of each shaft, jutting out 10/15 cm. This plug was kept in position thanks to small piece of wood which was linked , by a rope running through the shaft, with the KC. The outlets of both shafts were sealed at the end (after the funeral. For the closing, workers had just to pull the rope to withdraw the wooden piece; then the small block slid down in the shaft. This small block was unnoticeable from the outside because lots of the facing blocks have been repaired before their final setting, thus bearing lots of small patches (look at the facing of the Bent pyramid at Dahshur). Note: The proof that the facing was done with blocks already finished (at the quarry itself) can be found at Dahshur (Bent) and Meïdum (Third stage – smooth) : hundreds of facing blocks have been repaired (from shocks received during the transportation) with limestone plugs before their final setting (the shape of many plugs prove that these were put in place before the block of the above layer was set in place). It is quite doubtful for me to find any “religious explanation” in these shafts, for one simple reason. One doesn’t find a shaft in any other pyramids. Why the “Soul” of Khufu should have needed such shafts and not the other Kings?